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Aug 7, 2017 at 6:12 PMAug 7, 2017 at 6:14 PM

Reagle Music Theatre taps into talent for entertaining '42nd Street'

By R. Scott Reedy, Correspondent

Stage and television actor Tom Wopat was set to star in the current Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston production of “42nd Street,” but after being arrested by Waltham Police on charges of indecent assault and battery against a fellow cast member and cocaine possession the night before last Thursday’s opening performance, it was clear that “The Dukes of Hazzard” star would not be taking the stage at Waltham’s Robinson Theatre.

And so, while Wopat was being arraigned at Waltham District Court on Thursday morning, Reagle was proving that “the show must go on” – moving understudies up and shifting other cast members around. By last Friday’s press performance, the production was in fine fettle and glittering in every good way.

Anchored at Reagle by Broadway favorite Rachel York as temperamental leading lady Dorothy Brock, youthful Mara Cecilia as wide-eyed ingénue Peggy Sawyer, and quick study Rich Allegretto – who was set to play the smaller role of Brock’s longtime love interest, Pat Denning, but stepped up overnight to replace Wopat in the lead as mercurial director Julian Marsh – “42nd Street” offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Broadway musical.

Based on the 1933 movie of the same name, the 1980 show – with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, the movie music of Harry Warren, Al Dubin, and Johnny Mercer, and direction and choreography by the legendary Gower Champion – brought to Broadway what would become some of its most iconic musical numbers, beginning when the curtain rises slowly to reveal lines of tap-dancing legs.

That’s just the first peak at Champion’s Tony Award-winning choreography, faithfully recreated at Reagle by director and choreographer Eileen Grace – who, as a performer, has appeared in “42nd Street” on tour – and co-choreographer Susan M. Chebookjian.

Fueled by a score that includes “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “We’re in the Money,” “The Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” and the title number, Grace and Chebookjian move the large and admirably resilient cast briskly through a series of dazzling dance numbers.

In the story, a naïve Peggy Sawyer arrives in New York from Allentown, Pennsylvania, to audition for “Pretty Lady,” the new Julian Marsh show set to open on Broadway with a past-her-prime Dorothy Brock in the starring role. On the eve of the New York opening, Brock suffers an injury and must withdraw from the show.

“No star, no show,” declares the disappointed director, leaving “Pretty Lady” dead on arrival. In a bit of irony demonstrating that art does imitate life, however, Marsh quickly changes his mind when he is persuaded to replace Brock with Sawyer and let the show go on.

A wise decision not only in the script but also for this production, which is eminently worthwhile even without its intended star. Indeed, Allegretto displays commanding presence as Marsh, a role originated on Broadway by Jerry Orbach.

Seen on Broadway last season in the musical comedy “Disaster!” and now returning to Reagle, where she won IRNE awards for her starring roles in “Hello, Dolly!” and “Into the Woods,” York brings gown-worthy glamor to Brock, a part first played in New York by Tammy Grimes. York is smooth-as-silk on her solo, “I Know Now,” and lends a lovely lilt to “About a Quarter to Nine,” her act-two duet with the rich-voiced Cecilia.

As Billy Lawlor, juvenile male lead of the show-within-the show, talented song-and-dance man James Darrah – who played Ambrose Kemper in the 1995 revival of “Hello, Dolly!” directed by Lee Roy Reams, Broadway’s first Billy Lawlor – moves so rapidly and taps so furiously that you won’t be able to take your eyes off of him.

Also doing fine supporting work are Reagle regulars Beth Martin Pierce and Harold “Jerry” Walker, as the veteran songwriting and producing team of Maggie Jones and Bert Barry, and Charley Borden as choreographer Andy Lee. Paul Reynolds, who came in very last-minute to replace Allegretto in his original role of Pat Denning, deserves a nod, too.